The wild reindeer on the Hardangervidda plateau are in the spotlight when Benedicte Maurseth and her strong fellow musicians, Håkon Stene, Morten Qvenild and Mats Eilertsen, come to Førdehuset with the concert MIRRA.
In the theater hall in Førdehuset you can sit back and let the music take you out into nature, up on the plateau to see wild reindeer and other animals. -This concert is a bit like being in the mountains, says Benedicte Maurseth.

-Mirra is a continuation of my previous work Hárr (2022), with the perspective of ecosophy as a cornerstone, and where the reindeer have played the main role this time. They are remarkable, beautiful animals. They are also threatened. By humans, above all, who are limiting their space little by little, year by year. If we don't watch out, the wild reindeer on the Hardangervidda plateau may disappear forever, she says. The album - and the concerts - have received rave reviews here at home and internationally.

Maurseth comes from Eidfjord, at the foot of the Hardangervidda plateau, the largest wild reindeer area in the country, but says: - Only twice in my entire life have I seen wild reindeer. The first time was a large herd. Probably several hundred animals. They ran close, together, and with an intense gaze forward at a fast pace, and almost merged with the gray-brown landscape around them at Dyranut on the Hardangervidda plateau. I was seven years old then. Many years later I witnessed them only once more, then also by chance, on my way east one spring day. This despite the fact that I grew up in the mountains, at Maurseth in Eidfjord, right at the foot of the enormous mountain plateau where I have walked for years in all directions. Where the reindeer have also wandered, for several thousand years. So they have never been far away, even so unattainable, and far away nonetheless. They are shy of humans, and rightly so.

Sounds from other endangered animal species, which now or in the past have lived together with reindeer on the Hardangervidda plateau, also find a place in the music: snowy owl, arctic fox, wolverine, lapwing, little puffin, great puffin, common otter, merganser, gyrfalcon, American teal, black duck, merganser and northern harrier. 

The title 'mirra' is an older, forgotten dialect word from Hardanger that describes when reindeer run in a circulating circle – to keep warm, but also to keep predators away. That it is 'thriveting' with reindeer may also be an indication.

Contributor:
Benedicte Maurseth – Hardanger fiddle
Håkon Mørch Stene – percussion, electronics
Mats Eilertsen – bass
Morten Qvenild – piano, electronics

The concert is a collaboration with Jølster Jazz Club, and part of the musical main road to the West Norwegian Jazz Center.

Mirra has two Spellemann nominations: The album could be nominated for Album of the Year in the open class, and Benedicte Maurseth could be nominated for Composer of the Year. The Spellemann awards will be held at the Oslo Opera House and will be broadcast live on NRK.